This afternoon the Lamun-Lusk-Sanchez Texas State Veterans Home in Big Spring honored their Vietnam Veterans and their families. The event featured a Welcome Home Pinning Ceremony for 30 Vietnam Veteran residents and honored more than 50 additional Service Members who made the ultimate sacrifice for our nation.

Vietnam War Veterans are the only group of veterans who were not honored when they returned home from Vietnam. They were vilified and disrespected. March 29th is now the country's way of making amends to those veterans who defended the American flag with honor, supported democracy, and fought through brutal conditions. This day is currently known as National Vietnam War Veterans Day and the nation's support is demonstrated through ceremonies much like this one.

During the ceremony, Mancha advised that this date was chosen to honor Vietnam Veterans because on March 29th, 1973 the last of the U.S. troops left Vietnam after 11 years. During the Vietnam War, 3 million service members fought in Vietnam, 7,000 female nurses served in Vietnam, more than 58,000 U.S. service members were killed in Vietnam.

The Vietnam War is the longest conflict in U.S. History. It spanned across 5 presidencies and 2 decades. Mancha noted that it was because of the collective efforts of Vietnam War Veterans, U.S. veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan are being treated with respect and recognized for the sacrifices they make on our behalf.